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Canada: Barley exports forecast to decline in both 2011-12 and 2012-13 ...Click here

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China: SABMiller to test Miller Genuine Draft potential in China ...Click here

New Zealand: DB Breweries to raise beer prices in March 2012 ...Click here

Portugal: Unicer to close beer production in Santarem ...Click here

Canada: Western Barley Growers Association exploring options and opportunities to re-focus and re-invigorate the barley industry ...Click here

Ukraine: SABMiller’s subsidiary achieves 56.8% sales growth in a declining market ...Click here

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Brewery News

USA: Beer shipments in 2011 at the lowest since 2003 - estimate

Beer had a lackluster year in 2011, with the latest estimates showing U.S. shipments at their lowest levels since 2003 as major manufacturers such ...More info on site

Brazil: Beer production up 3.37% in 2011 - estimate

Despite some worries of a stagnation of Brazil’s beer market voiced by analysts last year, the latest data by SICOBE shows an increase of ...More info on site

Japan: Asahi Breweries maintains sales leadership, industrywide sales drop 3.7% in 2011

Asahi Breweries Ltd. maintained its position as Japan’s biggest beermaker last year, widening its market-share advantage over Kirin Holdings Co. as demand in the ...More info on site

Belarus: Heineken becomes No. 1 brewer by domestic sales in 2011

Last year saw Dutch beer giant Heineken for the first time winning the position of Belarus’ No. 1 brewery from the state-owned Krynitsa, Pivnoe ...More info on site

China: SABMiller to test Miller Genuine Draft potential in China

SABMiller plc, one of the world's leading brewers, announced on January, 16 that China Resources Snow Breweries Limited ("CR Snow"), its joint venture with China Resources Enterprise Limited ("CRE"), is launching a trial of SABMiller's international premium brand, Miller Genuine Draft, in the Zhejiang region of China.

The introduction of Miller Genuine Draft into the Zhejiang market gives the company the opportunity to test the potential for its international brand with a premium beer imported from the USA.

The joint venture has achieved significant growth for local brand ‘Snow', which is both the largest beer brand in China and in the world by volume. CR Snow had a 21% share of the Chinese beer market with sales of more than 92 million hectolitres in 2010.

CR Snow is the exclusive importer and will utilise its existing infrastructure to service the market, with Miller Genuine Draft initially available in Hangzhou and Wenzhou following a launch event to be held in Hangzhou on 16th January.

Ari Mervis, SABMiller's Managing Director, Asia Pacific, said: "This is an exciting opportunity to introduce one of our international brands into the fast-growing premium segment in China in a way which takes advantage of CR Snow's strong market ...More info on site

New Zealand: DB Breweries to raise beer prices in March 2012

DB Breweries will raise its beer prices in March, and other liquor companies in New Zealand are not ruling out similar moves, Stuff.co.nz reported on January, 17.

DB, with core brands Heineken, DB Export, Tui, Monteith's, DB Draught, Tiger and Amstel, announced this week that its pack products (beer and cider) will rise 3 per cent on average.

Its tap products will go up 1 per cent while its ready-to-drink labels (RTDs) will rise by 4 per cent on average from March 5.

The increases were a direct result of escalating costs, from raw materials and production to packaging and distribution, DB said.

''DB is experiencing increasing material costs as well as significant pressure on fuel, energy and utility costs, all of which have impacted our overall production, packaging and distribution expenses,'' managing director Brian Blake said.

''It's certainly regrettable that these rising costs have to be passed on to customers but unfortunately it's unavoidable.''

He acknowledged it was a difficult time for many operators in the hospitality industry but said the company was continuing to invest in marketing campaigns and category development to drive sales of DB's brands and their business overall.

A spokeswoman for rival brewer Lion said ...More info on site

Portugal: Unicer to close beer production in Santarem

Portugal’s No. 1 beer maker Unicer has decided to close its Santarem brewery and concentrate its production at the facilities in Leça do Bailio, ...More info on site

Ukraine: SABMiller’s subsidiary achieves 56.8% sales growth in a declining market

The past year was very successful for SABMiller’s Ukrainian subsidiary Miller Brands Ukraine despite the general beer sales stagnation in the country, 4-traders ...More info on site

Mexico & Ireland: Corona Light beer to be launched in Ireland later this month

Grupo Modelo has lined up the Irish launch of its Corona Light beer variant, local media reported this week.

Barry & Fitzwilliam, which handles the Corona stable in Ireland, has confirmed that Corona Light will join Corona Extra in the country from later this month. The move marks the first time the variant will be available outside Mexico and the US, Barry & Fitzwiliam said.

“Our aspiration for Corona Light is to have a 10% market share in year one”, said Barry & Fitzwilliam's (B&F) MD, Michael Barry. The light beer market in Ireland equates to around 50 mln bottles per year, according to the company.

In line with the increase in bottle size for Corona Extra in Ireland last year, Corona Light will also be available in a 35.5cl bottle, “ensuring at least 7.5% extra for the consumer vis-a-vis competing brands”, the firm added.

Corona Light contains around 99 calories, 30% less than regular bottled beer, B&F added.

Barley News

Canada: Barley exports forecast to decline in both 2011-12 and 2012-13

In 2011-12, Canada’s barley exports are forecast to decrease 11% to 1.8 mln tonnes, due to the export of only malting barley and barley ...More info on site

USA: Things quiet for the cash barley markets

The United States isn't the only area that's experiencing a limited supply of malting barley this year. European nations are also facing a tight ...More info on site

Canada: Western Barley Growers Association exploring options and opportunities to re-focus and re-invigorate the barley industry

For Western Canadian barley growers, achieving marketing choice is only the first step. The next is creating a robust marketing system, Brian Otto, president of the Western Barley Growers Association (WBGA), was quoted as saying by CNW on January, 17.

"With recent changes to the Canadian Wheat Board providing a 'catalyst for change' in barley marketing, the WBGA is exploring options and opportunities to re-focus and re-invigorate Western Canada's barley industry," Otto says.

Through its "In Search of the Optimal Marketing Structure" study, the WBGA has consulted with nearly 80 people (including a number in China and Japan) in all sectors of barley's domestic and export supply chains. The study is gathering information to put forward recommendations for the best commercial model for Western Canada's newly deregulated barley market place.

"We're seeing clear indications that a number of new opportunities for Canadian barley will emerge," says study co-author Russ Crawford of Agrinomics I. T. Consulting in Calgary. These opportunities, he adds, are important to revitalizing the crop, which has steadily declined in acreage, production and, most importantly, profitability in the past decade.

While malting barley delivers returns comparable to crops such as canola and spring wheat, the majority of barley ...More info on site

Application of the Rapid Visco Analyser as a Rheological Tool for the Characterisation of Mash Viscosity as Affected by the Level of Barley Adjunct

Declan L. Goode, Eric A. Wiltschko, Helge M. Ulmer and Elke K. Arendt

J. Inst. Brew. 111(2), 165–175, 2005

ABSTRACT
The application of the Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) as a laboratory scale rheological tool for the characterisation of mash viscosity is the subject of this study. Studies were conducted to simulate an industrial mashing process, taking into account temperature /time, grist loads, adjunct amounts and enzyme levels. The RVA was used to characterise the effects of different ratios of malt: barley adjunct. The method was found to have the ability of not only detecting the major viscosity changes which occur during starch gelatinisation/liquefaction processes, but also the minor viscosity changes which were found to occur during the proteolytic and saccharification steps. Clear correlations were found between the level of barley adjunct and the output rheological data points of the peak viscosity at 50^oC (PV50, R² = 0.9931), the rate of viscosity breakdown at 50^oC (BR50, R² = 0.9522), the peak viscosity prior to gelatinisation (PVG, R² = 0.9988), the area recorded under the gelatinisation curve (PGA, R² = 0.9928) and the peak viscosity breakdown rate (VBR, R² = 0.9783). The developed RVA rheological method is a useful tool for characterising grain quality (adjunct level) with regard to macromolecular viscosity compounds and the grains endogenous enzymatic capabilities.

Key words: Barley adjunct, mashing, rheology, viscosity.

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